Editorial: Restore Jesse Owens name to this school

Restore the Olympics hero's name to a West Pullman school

Jesse Owens flies through the air during the long jump event at the Olympic Games in Berlin. (Central Press / Getty Images)

Many Chicago school buildings bear the names of historical figures that, sorry to say, most people don't remember. But who could forget Jesse Owens?

He leapt to fame in the 1936 Olympics, the rangy 22-year-old African-American athlete, an Alabama sharecropper's son, demolishing Adolf Hitler's crazed notion of Aryan supremacy. The world watched as Owens snared four gold medals in just 75 minutes — breaking three world records — a staggering performance that still amazes after all these years.

Owens, who spent much of his adult life in Chicago, died in 1980 at the age of 66. He is buried in Oak Woods Cemetery on the South Side.

Shortly thereafter, a new school in the West Pullman neighborhood was named after him. A fitting honor for a man who transcended race and athletics, whose exploits will be recounted generation after generation.

But this summer, the Jesse Owens Community Academy landed on the list of 49 schools to be closed by Chicago Public Schools. The building was kept open for kindergarten through third grade students as part of Samuel Gompers Fine Arts Option School.

Owens' three daughters, who live in Chicago, protested. "It is just beyond me as to why they would do something like that," said Owens' youngest daughter, Marlene Rankin. "It is disrespectful."

She's right. It is beyond us, too.

Fortunately, this mistake can be corrected. On Wednesday the Gompers Local School Council is expected to vote on a recommendation to the Chicago Board of Education that Gompers school be renamed for Jesse Owens. The Owens name would be emblazoned on two buildings — the one that long held his name, and the nearby building that honors Gompers, a famous U.S. labor leader in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

We urge the members to vote yes.

Owens' Olympics exploits have been recounted in innumerable books, articles and television documentaries. What many people may not remember is that after the Olympics, Owens didn't snag a million-dollar endorsement contract. He worked as a playground janitor because he couldn't find a better job. Later he became a celebrated public speaker and ran his own marketing and public relations firm.

"We all have dreams," Owens said. "But in order to make dreams into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline and effort. These things apply to everyday life. You learn not only the sport but things like respect of others, ethics in life, how you are going to live, how you treat your fellow man, how you live with your fellow man."

After Owens' death, Tribune columnist David Condon recalled that Owens had supported boxing programs to help underprivileged youth. At one of these programs, a former boxing official told Condon, Owens showed up early at a school that was to host an all-day event.

"The first thing he noticed that wasn't right was that there was no American flag flying on the tall pole in front of the school building," the boxing official recalled. "In fact, there wasn't even a rope to hoist a flag. Jesse said there had to be a flag. So he found one, and shinnied up the pole to fasten an American flag. The old pole could have crashed under his weight. He could have been killed. But Jesse Owens wanted that American flag flying."

Owens earned — and deserved — every honor bestowed on him, including his name on that school.

School board members, restore Owens' name to that school. And take a moment to teach the students there — and across the city — about the proud legacy of an American icon.